On the Rocks: Rogers’ big pitch and other notes from win over Dodgers

Esmil Rogers has had a star-crossed career with the Rockies. He has shown flashes of brilliance and long stretches of inadequacy. Armed with a 97-mph fastball and good breaking ball, he profiles better in the bullpen. This spring the Rockies quickly moved him there, wanting him to take some of the load off right-hander Matt Belisle.

With a homestand teetering in the balance Monday night, Rogers provided a breathaking moment. After walking Mark Ellis, he faced the Dodgers’ Matt Kemp with the bases loaded and no outs.

The very same Kemp who enjoyed the greatest April ever by a Dodger. The same Kemp who hit his 12th homer of the month in the first inning. The same guy you see on the commercials, and who walked off the Nationals on Saturday night.

Yeah, that guy.

Rogers established his fastball early, leading to foul balls from Kemp. The pitch was working, but Rogers, following the fingers of catcher Ramon Hernandez, didn’t fall in love with it. Instead he threw back-to-back breaking pitches — a 90 mph slider, followed by an 86-mph curveball that Kemp couldn’t reach.

“That was a nasty pitch,” said Rockies special assistant Vinny Castilla.

Rex Brothers struck out Andre Ethier and Edgmer Escalona, with Matt Belisle and Josh Roenicke unavailable because of their recent workload, got Juan Rivera to pop up, ending the inning.

Some news and notes from the victory that improved the Rockies’ too 11-11 overall and 7-6 at Coors Field.

–Kemp went 1-for-4, leaving him with a .417 average for April. He is the fourth player in MLB history to finish April a .400 batting average, 10 or more home runs and more than 20 RBIs. He joins San Francisco’s Barry Bonds (2004), Colorado’s Larry Walker (1997) and Cincinnati’s Tony Perez (1970).
–Juan Nicasio has worked into the seventh inning in four of his five starts.
–Carlos Gonzalez has 13 RBIs in his last seven games.
–Troy Tulowitzki’s delivered his seventh go-ahead RBI of the season in the fourth inning. No other player has more than three.

That last bullet point is stunning. For one thing, it’s not like Tulo is on fire, yet. For another, you would think that someone blazing hot like Kemp or Jeter would have much more than 3 go-ahead RBI. I guess their teams are working with the lead a lot, though.

Patrick, a third-generation Colorado native, is back for his second stint covering the Rockies. He first covered the team from 2005-2009, helping chronicle “Rocktober” in 2007 and also following the team’s playoff run in 2009.

Nick Groke has worked at The Denver Post since 1997, as a sports reporter, city reporter, entertainment writer and digital editor and producer, among other newsroom posts. He also writes regularly about boxing, soccer, MMA and NASCAR.